Brake.



J. H. MEREDITH.

BRAKE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 3, 1901.

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"1 2:5 W i I III 1] L i j I", I 0 IN" MI W/TNESSES v INVENTOH 7516221 2. .Jfred'a'ii PATENTED DEC. 24, 1907.

JOHN HENRY MEREDITH, OF ALTOONA, PENNSLLVANIA.

- BRAKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 24, .1907,

Applicationfiled April 3,1907- Serial No. 366,169-

To alt whom it may concern:

Be 1t known that I, JOHN I'IENRY MERE- DITH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Altoona, in the county of Blairand State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Brake, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to brakes such as used on cars, wagons and other moving vehicles for bringing them quickly to a state of rest.

The object of the invention is to produce a mechanism of thiskind which is simple in ....construction and I which will operate automatically, as it were, to com ensate for the wear which takes place at the rake shoes.

While the invention is illustrated in the following specification and drawings as applied to a railway car, it is capable of use in otherconnections, and although illustrated as a hand brake, the power for applying the brake may be derived from any other source. The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts to be more fully described hereinafter and particularly set forth in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompany ing drawings forming a part ofithis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an end of a car to which my invention has been applied, certain parts of the .car being shown in section so as to more fully illustrate the construction of the brake mechanism; Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing more in detail, certain parts of the brake mechanism; in this view a ortion of the spindle of the hand wheel is roken away; and Fig, 3 is a section taken in F' 2 on the line 3 3-thereof.

Tieferring more particularly to the parts, 1 represents thecar bodytowhich my brake mechanism is applied. The truck-bolster 2 of the car is provided with a transverse open ing 3 at which there are arranged oppositely disposed hooks 4,said-hooks being attached to the upper portion of the bolster on the front and rear sides thereof, as shown. From "these hooks. 4 hangers 5 hang downwardly,

and these hangers support the brake beams 6 which are dis osed 1nthe usual manner transversely .of t coal, and on the adjacent .sides of the wheels 7 The brake beams 6 55 are provided with brake shoes 8, which rest adjacent to the faces ofthe wheels 7 in the readily understood.

usual manner. The hangers 5 are not at tached directly to the beams 6,. but are attached to brackets 9, and these brackets are provided with outwardly projecting arms 10 and 11. vers 12 and-13 are respectively attached piv-v otally as shown. These levers extend upwardly and are connected pivotally by an e ualizer bar 14 which extends through, the a 'oresaid opening 3. p

The upper end of the brake lever 13 which is disposed adjacent to the end of the car, is pivotally attached to a hanger arm 15, which iprojects outwardly in a horizontal position om the side of the axle. A similar arm 16 To these arms 10 and 1 1, brake lea is arranged on the oppositeside of the aXle and opposite to the arm 15, and this arm 16 may be used where the brake is to be oper-' ated from the middleof the carinstead of from the end of the car, as illustrated. The upper end of the brake lever 12 is attached.

'pivotally to a link 17 which extends'toward 1 I bars are connected by a cross head 21 which is threaded to receive a screw 22, so that the cross head 21 constitutes a nut, aswill be This cross head 21 is provided at its sides with tongues 23 which are slidably mounted in longitudinally disposed slots 24 formed in the sides of a guide racket 25, This uide bracket 25 is attached to the under side of a bumper 26. The part of the bracket 25 in which the slots 24 are formed, constitutes a horizontal extension from the body 27 of the bracket which is I attached to the under side of the. bumper. This body 27 com rises horizontal flanges 28 and 29 connected y a vertical web 30, Vertically through the flange 28 and seating on the flange 29, a spindle 31 passes, said spindle being rotatably mounted in suit-able bearings 32 and 33' attached to the end of the car. The upper end of the spindle 31 is provided with a hand wheel 34 by means ofwhich the spindle may be rotated, when the brakes are to be applied or released.

Beneath the bumper 26 and the flange 28 a bevel gear 35 is attached to'the spindle, and

this bevel-gear is adapted to operate a bevel gear 36 which is rigidly attached to the afore said screw 22 in the manner indicated in Fig 3.

From the construction described it will now be clearly apparent that when the band wheel 34 is rotated in the proper direction,

brakes, the equalizer bar 14 and the brake levers 12 and 13 operate in the usual manner,

' so that the shoes will be pressed shnultaneously against the oppos wheels.

I provide an arrangement at the bracket 25 for com ensating for the wear which takes place at t e brake shoes, and the arrangement at this point is such that stops are presented for arresting the movement of the parts when the brakes are on or off, and these stops automatically adjust themselves to the condition of the brake shoes. In this way -the minimum amount of movement necessary takes place, and I insure that the brake shoes Will always be maintained out of contact with the wheels. This latter feature is of considerable importance because where the brake shoes touch the wheels when not applied, their aggregate friction throughout a ong train is very appreciable. For the purpose just suggested, the nut 21 is provided on its upper side with a crown 37 or rectangular projection, and this crown is provided with a slot or groove 38 which extends longitudinally of the screw- 22 and in the same vertical gplane with the axis of the screw, as viewed in Fig. 3.

On the end of the bracket 25' adjacent to the brakes, a transverse dog bar 39 is provided, and the upper face 40 of this dog bar is inclined as indicated in Fig. 2, so that the dog bar constitutes, as it were, a tooth projecting toward the osition of the spindle 31.

Resting in the s ot 3S and the cr'iwn 37 there is provided a rack 41; this rack is provided at the nut 21 with an elongated notch 42 in its lower edge, so that abrupt shoulders 43 and 44 are formed, which may be engaged by the forward and rearfaces of the nut so as to limit the movement thereof. The other end ofthe rack which lies adjacent to the tooth 40is provided with ratchet teeth 45, and these teeth are formedwith inclined faces so that they project toward the brake mechanism- This part of the rack or ratchet bar rests upon the tooth 40, and the teeth 45 are adapted to engage with the tooth or dog bar 39 so as to rcvent the rack from moving toward the rig t as viewed in Fig. 2. The operation of this rack 41 in adjusting the po sition of the nut 21, will now be described;

3 Assuming the parts to be in the relation shown in Fig. 2, the brake shoes will be withdrawn from the wheels. When the brakes are to be a plied, the hand wheel 34 is ro tated in a direction to move the nut 21 to Ward the end of the car; that is, toward the left as viewed in Fig. 2. This movement continues until the nut engages the stop shoulder 44 at the end of the notch 42. At this time the brake shoes will have been applied to the faces of the wheels. As the shoes Wear, the nut 21 will advance the rack more and more toward the left until the next notch or tooth In this way, as the wear on the shoes occurs, the position of the rack bar adjusts '45 of the rack is advanced over .the dog bar '70 39.

itself so that when the brakes are released or the nut 21 comes against the stop shoulder 43. At this time the shoes will be out of contact with the faces of the wheels. In this way the mechanism adjusts itself, as it were, to the condition of theshoes, changing the posi the nut to correspond with the more 01' less worn condition of the brakes.

In order to adjust the brake levers to alter the position of the brake beams, the equalizer ;tion or location of the traveling movement of bar 14 is provided with a plurality of 0 enings 46, and each of the lovers is attache by means of a removable pin 47.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a brake mechanism, in combination, a link, means actuated thereby for applying the brakes, a movable member adapted to actuate said link, a stop for said movable member, and means for automatically adusting said stop as the brake wears.

2. In a brake mechanism, in combination, a link, means actuated. thereby for applying the brakes, a nut, means for guiding the same, a connection between said nut and said link for actuating said link, a member limiting the movement of said nut, and means for adjusting said member automatically with the wear of the brakes.

3. In a brake mechanism, in combination, a link, means actuated thereby for applying the brakes, a bracket, a nut guided therein and connected with said link, a rack having means for engaging said nut to determine the position of" travel thereof, a screw controlling ing the brakes, a bracket, a screw mounted therein, a nut guided in said bracket and connected with said link, and a rack engagin said' nut and permitting a limited trave thereof, said rack having teeth projecting toward the brake and adapted to compensate for the wear of the brakes, said bracket having a tooth adapted to engage the teeth of said rack to lock the same against a backward movement.

5. In a brake mechanism, in combination,

alink,meansfor applying the brakes through I adapted to engage said teeth to lock said 10 said link, abraeket, a screw mounted therein, rack against a rearward movement.

a nut on said screw guided in said bracket I In testimony whereof I have signed my and connected with said link, a rack engagname to this specification in the presence of ing said nut and permitting a limited meve- I two subscribing Witnesses.

ment thereof, said rack having a plurality of JOHN HENRY MEREDITH. teeth projecting rearwardly with respect to lVitnesses: the direction of advance of said rack in ap- P. H. MARKLEY,

plying the brakes, and a transverse dog bar J. F. MEGK. 

